Rep. Ryan Lauer, R-Columbus, has introduced some legislation that, if passed, would benefit his constituents in Bartholomew County. For example, Lauer has authored bills this session seeking millions of dollars in funding for the Columbus Education Center and calling for greater accountability and transparency for the Department of Child Services.
Too bad he didn’t stop there. Despite numerous appeals from people of good faith begging lawmakers for a reprieve on culture wars issues this session, Lauer did not heed that request. He’s firing another salvo, this time at transgender youth and their families.
Lauer introduced House Bill 1231, which, as The Republic’s Andy East reported, “would bar health care professionals in Indiana from providing children younger than 18 with gender reassignment surgery, puberty blockers, hormone therapy, among other treatments that aim to help enable them to present as a gender different from the sex on their birth certificate.”
“This is an issue that has concerned me, and, I’ll say, is one of the top issues constituents have reached out to me (about) over the past year,” Lauer told The Republic. “I think a lot of people are concerned with the very recent phenomenon of performing experimental surgeries on minors — on children.”
Perhaps. But frankly, a lot of people are also concerned with the overexuberance of
Indiana Republican lawmakers’ meddling in matters that frankly are none of their
business, which target a marginalized community and score political points.
Let us call this what it is: Lauer and the supermajority Republicans in the Indiana General Assembly — including Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus, who signed on to a similar bill in the Senate — wish to use the force of law to criminalize a decision that is not the state’s to make, and should be left with the family and their health care provider.
And let us ask this question: Who owns their body, the person who inhabits it, or the state of Indiana?
Lauer and Statehouse Republicans want to substitute their judgment for that of young people, their families, and their health care providers. Under what conditions and circumstances would Lauer permit a young person who is experiencing gender dysphoria to seek counseling or treatment? What are his credentials?
There was a time when the Republican Party proudly stood for personal freedom and responsibility. How times have changed. Now, Lauer and other Republicans want to pass laws that say they know best.
Another bill Lauer authored, House Bill 1232, “would prevent the Indiana Department of Child Services from classifying parents’ refusal to support their children’s gender identity or consent to gender-affirming health care as abuse. The measure also would prohibit courts from taking custody away from parents for the same reasons,” as East reported.
Can Lauer point to a single case where this has happened in Indiana, or is this just fear-mongering? We’ll wait.
Used to be that government knew to butt out of personal and family matters. And it also used to be that the province of the family, and the ancient right of parents to raise their children as they deem fit without government interference, was sacrosanct to Republicans.
How times have changed.
